A science in its infancy is the least satisfactory, and, at the same time, the most profitable theme for a general description.

Preface, page v

It is as though a star throws the whole secret history of its being into its spectrum, and we have only to learn how to read it aright in order to solve the most abstruse problems of the physical Universe.

Introduction, page xxv

What parts of the interior or the atmosphere give rise to the various phenomena, or indeed, if these regions have any parts at all, are questions which we ask of the stars in vain.